


Trapped In The Land Of The Free

by fallingskys



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Inspired by Real Events, M/M, Other, Pretty Much Every Character Will Show Up At Some Point Or Another, Sadstuck, historical fiction - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-13 01:34:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10503696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingskys/pseuds/fallingskys
Summary: It is the 1940's in America. The Executive Order 9066 will be passed soon by the President and Damara will have to face that trail among those existing of the racism surrounding Japanese Americans at the time.Sidenote: This story will probably take longer than my others to write and finish, and might be prone to changes within the plot ect. I'd really like to make this good and as historically accurate as is possible!





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> See Notes At End

A young girl opened her eyes to close them again with a sharp cry. The child had to be under two years old, perhaps even an infant. It was an odd sort of scene, usually a child would be with her parents and have her crib located indoors. This sort of “normality” didn’t seem to apply to this family or whoever her parents were. 

A woman of obvious Japanese decent made her way back to where her crying child was. She smiled softly, picking the baby up and cradled her close to her chest. The mother had the look that you grow to have after living for a certain time, tired but happy. Happy was a new emotion for the child’s mother but the child couldn’t tell that. She could only tell that her mother was comforting, warm, and happy. The sun shined down and her mother closed her eyes, daring to look up and soak in the rays.

She kept her eyes closed despite the noise of the door sliding shut behind her. A man that could only be her husband walked up and wrapped an arm around the mother’s waist pulling her close, kissing her temple. The stood like that for a long time before the mother leaned her head against his shoulder. 

They were safe and that was all that mattered and they would have a happy life in this new country. It would be better than anything that they had gone through before now, it was the land of the free after all. Hopefully, the nickname that was passed around here and there would prove to be true.

It was almost like a scene out of a movie and so different than such things before now that the couple had lived through that it was enough to push her mother to tears of happiness. She was a very strong woman and usually wouldn’t let emotions and tears get in her way but this time she let them fall. She could afford to be so emotional, safe in this place, house, and her husband’s arms.

Of course, moments like these can never last for too long and it was disrupted by the baby waking up from her short-lived nap. She stared up fascinated at the scene but then started crying as soon as her mother shed a tear and her father’s face was scrunched into an odd one of happiness, pain, and slight regret. 

Her mother sighed and shook her head with a smile, staring down at the child. She brushed the single tear that she had let fall in her moment of softness and hugged the baby closer before setting her back down in her crib. She stayed there and leaned over the crib, giving the young baby her finger to hold on to.

“Oh Damara…you must learn to be stronger than this if you are to live in such a cruel word. This will not work, don’t cry anymore. You’re blessed with being here and I won’t take any such thing as unadulterated sobbing,” The mother scolded the baby, the tone of softness impossible to mistake.


	2. The Debilitating Yet Rejuvinating Drive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damara is driven by her mother to the new school that she will be attending, starting on this day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See Notes At The End

A girl pushed her hair back into a bun, securing it with a single hair pin. It was gold with white flowers scattered across it, a great contrast against her raven black locks. She sighed as two locks of hair fell from the bun and into her face, impressed that the pin was able to hold all of her hair back on its own in the first place she was not all that frustrated as she seemed. She bit her lip and studied herself in the mirror after fixing her hair to look as if her goal was to have those locks out of place.

She was an attractive girl and though she wasn’t too vain, she still acknowledged it when looking in mirrors. Her dark, almond shaped brown eyes had a spark to them that seemed to show she was alive and ready for any potential danger that approached. They smiled for her even when she was irritated or pretending to be, like now.

“Damara, hurry! If you are admiring your reflection once again I will have to smack that prettiness off of your face. I will too, do not dare to test me,” Her mother yelled down the hallway in Japanese.

Damara smirked and rolled her eyes, knowing that her mother’s threat wasn’t going to be made good on today. She finally had gathered the money to enroll her daughter into a school that wasn’t full of kids eager to make fun or hurt anyone around them.

Damara had a tough outer shell and didn’t mind too much when others teased her but was excited about the prospect of a new school nonetheless. She hoped the teenagers at this new school would be slightly less immature but she truly doubted it. She returned her attention to her reflection despite her mother’s warning and studied her face.

She usually wasn’t a huge fan of dressing up for occasions that were considered special or important but this once, she didn’t mind. She wanted to look irresistible, first impressions were pretty much what people assumed about you, no matter what anyone had told her this had held true most of her life.

Damara debated lipstick and then decided against it, not wanting to give anyone the idea that she was a hooker. She smoothed on some lip balm and then added clear gloss on top of it. The littlest detail would make idiots believe that was true and she didn’t want that impression like at her last school.

She’d dressed more conservatively because of this, wearing a dress that went down past her knees with a flower print on it. Embarrassingly it was one of her nicer pieces of clothing because her family was less than rich, not that Damara had ever minded that too much. The sleeves billowed up and it had a v-neck that showed off her collarbones, hoping no one would care about that small detail.

Damara applied mascara and went into her small room, breathing in the comforting scent of home before swinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“I’m ready mother,” Damara spoke in Japanese.

“Really? We’ve spoken about this topic, speak in English on your way to school. We want you to learn it better and it will be important to know at your new school. I doubt any of them will have bothered to learn our language,” Her mother responded, swatting Damara with her hand.

Damara smiled and nodded respectfully, “Yes, mother.”

Her mother gave her a proud nod, “Good, now come on let’s go to the car before you make us late again.”

Damara nodded again in acknowledgement and followed behind her mother as she headed to the front of her house. Her mother held open the door for Damara and gave her a slight smile, making Damara beam in response. Her mother wasn’t among most people and usually wouldn’t show a lot of emotion when necessary but Damara had gotten fairly good at reading her body language and the ways she said things.

Damara got into the passenger seat after her mother got into the car and bit her lip in thought. She hated that she had to think about her English before she said it to sound intelligent but it was a small price to pay. She was lucky enough to have been born in the US and not had to have learned English like her parents.

She shook her head in slight irritation and spoke, “I find it very irritating that we have to literally drive from our house to this new school. I’m sure I could bike there if I really wanted to. Do you really have to drive me there every single day?”

Her mother quirked up an eyebrow but responded diligently and in Japanese, “Yes, we spoke on the subject. I know you are a teenager and being difficult is your job but please just leave the subject alone. Okay?”

“Yes, mother…” Damara trailed off.

It wasn’t because of anything like being embarrassed about her mother’s presence, it was the inconvenience it caused for both of them.  Damara was proud of her mother which she knew was rare depending on who your family was, how you were raised, and other things but she didn’t like the arrangement.

She was excited at the prospect of a new school but the high price it took to get into it and the fact that it took time away from her mother, she wasn’t too fond of it. She really enjoyed having the time with her mother, she really did, but her family wasn’t rich and the in the time she took to drive her child to school she could be making some money instead of letting that go to waste.

Her mother finally parked and looked at Damara with a questioning gaze, “Would you want me to walk you in?”

Damara’s face broke into a grimace. Of course she wanted her mother to walk her in but the fact that she was already taken that time off of her day, she couldn’t. Her mother watched her daughter ponder the subject with mixed emotions and figured that she had some idea of what she was thinking.

“Damara,” she took her daughter’s chin and lifted it up to look into her eyes.

“Yes?” Damara responded, unable to avoid her mother’s gaze anymore.

“We wanted to do this for you and I’m happy to be with you,” she spoke.

“I know…” Damara trailed off.

Her mother sighed and nodded, she knew when her daughter made up her mind there was no changing it. If she didn’t want her mother to waste her time with affairs like this she would respect that, even if she didn’t like that.

Damara leaned over to kiss her mother’s cheek, giving her a hesitant smile. She then lifted her backpack off the seat and closed the door behind her. She hated to admit how much her heart was pounding out of her chest as she stepped closer and closer to the school.

She shook her head, annoyed at the anxiety that was prominent within her body. It was nothing to be nervous about, but she couldn’t argue with the feeling in her body that said otherwise. She took a deep breath in and out and then approached the front desk with a confident smile. She may have felt nervous but she wouldn’t let others see that. To anyone but a mind reader she would be a confident, attractive girl, who just happened to be Japanese. 

That last detail was usually the first that people noticed but she tended to ignore that fact because it was so often the cause of her irritation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of just a set up to the actual plot as of now but new characters other than our lovely main Damara will soon be introduced within the next chapter or so.


	3. The Vantas Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damara meets Kankri and Karkat while Karkat is trying to avoid going to school once again for this year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See The Notes At The End

“Hello, I’m Damara Megido,” Damara stated to the woman sitting at the front desk. 

“Ah yes, one of our very few Japanese students, even the first if I’m correct. What an honor that must be for someone like you,” the woman replied with a fake smile.

Damara gritted her teeth but pushed past the obvious biased view that this woman had against her. She despised the thick Japanese accent that she spoke with but it wasn’t exactly something she could fix about herself.

“Yes, that’s correct. Can I bother you for my f-“she stopped herself from cussing taking a deep breath, “Can I bother you for my schedule?

The office woman seemed about to make some kind of rude response when a kid with messy black hair burst through the door. Her eyes widened and slight laughter escaped her throat when she noticed his blindingly bright red sweater. She smacked her hand over her mouth immediately, not wanting to give away that she thought his attire was hilarious.  
She watched as she heard someone yelling out a string of cuss words. The person who the one with the red sweater dragged out was wearing a less horrifying combination of clothing but still a sweater. It had the sign of a Cancer on it and she wondered absentmindedly if this boy was into horoscopes and thing of that nature. She could tell that he was younger than the boy who was wearing the red sweater and they seemed to be related.

She wondered if they were twins. They both had messy, dark black hair and startlingly bright red eyes. She had never seen anyone with those eye colors but bite her lip to prevent from commenting on how alluring it was and making some kind of dirty comment. She didn’t need the same reputation she had at her old school here.  
As she watched the younger continue to holler out a stream of cuss words, she met the older’s eyes. His face flushed slightly red immediately and she cursed herself for biting her lip when she was trying to keep from talking.

He did seem quite adorable and she wouldn’t have minded if he took the accidental reaction to mean that she was hitting on him, but she hoped that he was just embarrassed by the eye contact. She didn’t need some guy in a bright red sweater commenting on how she shouldn’t act like that or worse trying to get lucky the day they met.  
Once she made eye contact with them she noticed that this older boys hair was not black but just a very dark brown, almost a black color. This fact, the different colored sweaters, and height difference were almost the only tells that they were different people altogether.

That moment of distraction was all that the younger boy needed to make his attempted escape as her began to walk out of the door.

“Not so fast, we have both discussed this thoroughly. I must admit that I am quite offended that you would try to escape my presence at the slightest distraction that I am faced with. Do you not find that to be rude? Excuse me, there was a trace of frustration and sarcasm in my tone when I asked that question. Let me rephrase this before continuing on. Dearest Karkat, I feel as though you do not understand how I am helping you in this sense. If only you could understand how taking my advice will serve to benefit you so much more than this pointless arguing. How can you not see this?” the older boy commented and sighed, pushing his hair behind his ears only to have some of it fall back where it was before.

So the youngest name was Karkat then? That was an interesting name, Damara liked it. She had a feeling that whoever the elder was would take any opportunity to speak and for long periods of time too, so she snatched up the opportunity when he took a breath to barge in. Damara approached the younger with a sweet smile with a slightly suggestive nature.

“Hello. So your name is Karkat?” Damara asked him.

“Uh…what the fuck?” He responded.

“That is an answer but a fairly shitty one.” She responded with a slight laugh, hoping that he would understand what she was through her accent.

“Fuck you and yeah it’s Karkat,” He responded and rolled his eyes.

“I’m Damara, what grade are you in?” Damara asked him curiously.

“Fuck, like I know. They just keep coming up with a bunch of different fucking names. Hopefully none but that jackass right there wants to drag me back to this preppy hell hole for another year of torture.” Karkat responded with a huff, nodding his head in the direction of the other.

The other seemed to take this as an invitation to join in and moved to lean against the door to the office. Damara knew that his goal was to block anyway of Karkat’s leaving now and laughed slightly giving the older an beguiling smile. He stumbled on his way over at that and blushed, finally leaning against the door as nonchalantly as he could.

She laughed lightly and smiled as a way for him to go on and noticed Karkat’s animalistic growl as the other got closer and smirk when the older tripped.

“I am not being unreasonable as I am sure you have gathered. I believe that Karkat thinks that withholding the information of what grade he is in will definitely be of some captivating nature. I must assure him that it is not in any way “sexy”. I apologize if that was considered rude in any way Karkat, you must know that I am very frustrated at your reactions to my rational appealing to you and why this is a good opportunity to take. I do not enjoy this school any more than you do, especially the humans that roam the grounds. Still, we must persevere and continue on boldly. Just think, very soon you will graduate and be free of this, how did you put it? Ah, yes, I remember. This “hellhole”, I think you said. Excuse my language, of course, I did not mean to cuss but I feel it adds a certain pull to the subject that I am speaking of. Now Karkat, please do not continue to be so difficult, believe me it is not too hard to do so. School is but a necessary evil. Karkat please quit that idiotic behavior, it is not the first impression we want to give our new acquaintance here.” He spoke with a glare at Karkat who had taken up silently mocking him while he had spoken.

“What? I was just trying out a new method of studying you. Maybe one day I too could be such an annoying prick! Oh swoon, please, that’s all I long to be. You know what? I changed my mind, I’m going to attend school at this hellhole. Fuck yeah, it will definitely be worth it if I get to follow around your red sweatered ass. If I’m lucky I might get to see some of your neck, how fucking risqué.” Karkat responded with a growl.

Damara was laughing so hard that she was near tears, this was better than any sitcom she had ever experienced before. As much as she wanted to see where this went, she decided to break the two up for a moment.

“Excuse me, but I haven’t gotten either of your grades or your names. I’m very eager to learn this,” Damara said with her best enticing smile.  
The older sibling flushed a light shade of red and you guessed he didn’t have all that much experience with flirting. Karkat however just rolled his eyes and opened his mouth slightly only to have the other interrupt him before he even got the opportunity to speak.

“Oh of course, excuse us for being so unwelcoming to-hmm, I presume that you are a new student that will be attending our school. Damara wasn’t it? I must apologize, I am not very good with remembering names. I am working on it though, it is very important, as I’m sure you know, to improve upon our flaws. For example, my good friend Cronus could try not to flirt incessantly with every single person who he happens upon. I am not judging him at all for doing so, I find his refusal to give up quite endearing at times. However, it can be very annoying to others that don’t return the feeling of affection. Meenah, for example, the poor teenager can hardly go anywhere without his presence. I try to read as much as possible for this reason because I don’t want to appear ignorant or accidently trigger someone. Oh dear, you don’t know what that means do you? Please remind me to return to the subject at a later time then. I’ve gotten off topic haven’t I? Please forgive me, I always do this, such interesting things to speak about and so very little time. Karkat is a year younger than me, my younger brother actually. My father refused to tell us whether we are twins or not as some kind of practical joke, though I can’t see the appeal or funny nature of doing such a ridiculous thing. I will never understand my father, but he is still my parental guidance. My name is Kankri, Kankri Vantas, I’m not sure if I have stated so yet. You asked our grades too, if I am correct? This is my last year attending high school so, as one would presume, I am in twelfth grade. My brother, Karkat is in eleventh grade, and will be attending eleventh grade until it’s end,” he finished, shooting a glare at his brother.

Karkat just stood there with his eyes wide and like he was somewhere else with a pained and shocked expression. Damara laughed lightly, like the ringing of chime bells and turned to look back at Kankri who was still leaning in front of the door.

“It is nice to meet you Kankri. You and your brother have very cool names.” She commented and held out her hand for him to shake.

“Thank you for the compliment. I truly appreiciate it and I’m sure that Karkat would to when he returns from whatever world it is that he is living in at the moment. He always gets like this and I can never find the reason why. Now that I am thinking about the subject in great detail, I think it may just be that this only happens when I talk. I hope my voice isn’t that dreadfully dull but if it is there isn’t too much that I can do about the matter really.” Kankri finished and snapped his fingers in front of Karkat’s face to get his attention.

Karkat jumped back slightly in response and stuck his middle finger up at his brother in response. Kankri huffed at the matter and started on a speech about how it was very rude to make such gestures while Damara spaced out, watching as the lady at the front desk went through her papers. Damara hoped that she would find her schedule soon, she definitely didn’t want to be late and she didn’t think that Kankri and Karkat were going to come to a compromise on whether or not he should attend this year of high school or not any time soon. She sighed softly sitting down on one of the office chairs that was nearest to the door, staring at the brothers while they fought over who knew what now.  
She watched the office lady when she ducked out to another room and came back with a paper in her hand. The woman wore a triumphant expression on her face and Damara hoped that it was about her finding the schedule for her classes rather than something else. 

Her hopes came true when she cleared her throat, glaring at the Vantas’. Kankri continued talking but Karkat shut his mouth and clapped a hand over Kankri's mouth before he could say any more.

“Speak now or forever hold your fucking peace. My hand can only withhold his incessant shit talking for so damn long,” Karkat said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually have no clue who the office lady is but she will probably not end up being any Homestuck character unless anybody has some suggestions on who she could be.


	4. It's Damara, Not Damala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damara is irritated by the office lady who seems to hate her for just existing, with Karkat interrupting to disrupt this whole process. The three head into the gym for their principal's speech and all that, sitting on the bleachers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See End For More Notes

The office lady shook her head and clicked her tongue in disapproval. She seemed to look around for someone who she could complain about their behavior to but crinkled her nose when her gaze landed on Damara. Damara bit the inside of her cheek and decided that this office lady definitely was not going to be one of the adults she would make friends with at this school. 

“Damala?” she asked, reading off of the sheet.

Damara gritted her teeth in response but smiled back anyways, trying to be nice despite how rude this office lady was acting towards her. Karkat just lifted his eyebrows when she said, obviously catching onto her saying it wrong.

“I’m pretty fucking sure it’s Damara, with all due respect miss.” Karkat answered for her, sarcasm lacing his tone.

“You’re lucky your parents disapprove of this horrifying behavior and are so darling or I might take to washing your mouth out with soap.” She replied coldly.

“Have at it. Pretty sure that your being blind won’t help the fact that, oh shit, you’re trying to shove soap in my mouth. One of my pretty great skills is wait for it. It’s fucking amazing here. I can actually close my mouth. You can still try though, have at it, I’ll even give you the perfect shot. Ready. Aim. Fucking fire.” Karkat replied opening his mouth in mockery.

The office lady’s face was red with anger and Damara couldn’t say she wasn’t enjoying it, part of her wishing that she hadn’t skipped a grade and would be with Karkat this year. Oh well, it could be worse, she figured besides she had Kankri. She didn’t mind people that talked a lot, it gave her a better chance at learning all the proper grammar and such in English that she hadn’t managed to completely get down yet.

“Please, my schedule?” Damara asked.

“Hmm, I’m sorry your accent it’s…cute but I just can’t understand it,” the woman replied, sickeningly sweet.

“She said she wants her schedule asswipe,” Karkat said.

Karkat took his hand off of Kankri’s mouth and swiped the schedule out of the woman’s hand before she could react with a smirk. He handed it to Damara and lifted up his backpack to sling it over his shoulder after taking out of it what she guessed was his own schedule. 

Kankri was talking a mile a minute to the office lady along with constant hand motions to go along with whatever it was that he was saying to her. Damara shook her head with a slight smile, doubting that whatever apology speech he made would be accepted in the slightest. Before she could say so, Karkat reached up and grabbed his older brother by the collar of his turtleneck and dragged him out of the office. 

“Congra-fucking-lations Kankri, I’m going to have to survive another year at this shitty school. I’d rather have dildos slowly shoved down my throat until I choked to death but somebody has to be a leader and stand up to pricks like her,” He said and pointed back at where they had come from.

Kankri’s eyes widened at Karkat’s description and opened his mouth when Karkat pressed a finger to his older brother’s lips. 

“One word and I’ll fuck a seagull and move to California for our wedding.” Karkat spoke and slowly removed his fingers from the other’s mouth.

Kankri crossed his arms in a huff but didn’t speak, he decided it would be best not to until the blush faded from his face. 

“Thank fucking god. I swear our mom only plays the silent game with two high schoolers in the car because of this asshole,” Karkat commented.

Damara held back a laugh and gave Karkat a slight smile at the comment. Kankri let out a huff of air and finally spoke.

“I know you asked me to be quiet for the next few moment and I hope it is not too rude that I went against your request and did so. If this offends you in any way I apologize deeply, dearest brother. I only find it necessary to defend myself when put in such a compromising position as this. I am almost completely sure that mother did not begin to play such a game because of anything as petty as wanting her children to be quiet, especially a particular one. If the blame were to be dedicated to one particular person that has been within the confines of our vehicle, it would have to be your friend Dave. Excuse me, that was rude but though I may be prone to long conversations at least I watch my language. I don’t mean anything hurtful by that but you truly should watch your language and make sure, at the very least, try to make sure that there are less cuss words than actual intelligent ones contained in your conversations with another,” Kankri replied.  
Karkat scoffed and chuckled at Kankri’s mention of Dave. He unzipped Kankri’s backpack grabbing out his brother’s schedule, despite Kankri’s need to know what it was that his brother was participating in behind him. Karkat rolled the paper up to hit his brother on the head with, ducking when Kankri tried to hit him back, thankful for his small height at the moment.

“Here,” Karkat said, coming up to stand next to Kankri and handed him the paper that he had removed.

Kankri took it hesitantly as they walked. Karkat lead the way to the gym, Damara tagging behind. She wasn’t sure if the two even wanted her there but felt that annoying them was better than being seen alone when entering somewhere new. Karkat put her fears aside when he spoke again.

“I was just getting your schedule so we could compare all of ours dumbass. I might shove a fork into one of my eyes if I get a class with you, actually probably both eyes. Then Terezi and I can finally be together in a literal sense, the true shitty definition of love being blind.” Karkat commented sarcastically.

Kankri entered the gymnasium with Karkat behind him, holding the door open for Damara. She smiled at him very glad that he did so and thanked him. She followed behind as he sat on the bleachers then followed suit. Kankri was still going off on some tangent as soon as they got situated but now a guy her age seemed to follow behind him. Kankri looked slightly annoyed by that fact but fine with it overall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Damala is completely right, I don't know why Karkat got so pissed at all.

**Author's Note:**

> This story might take longer than my others to write and finish, and might be prone to changes within the plot ect. I'd really like to make this good and as historically accurate as is possible!


End file.
